I am a Tombstone Tourist: someone who loves to wander cemeteries. I find it akin to visiting a museum: an opportunity to enjoy rarely seen sculpture, intricate carvings, and amazing architecture, all in a tranquil outdoor setting. This blog is about cemetery culture, art, history, issues of death, and genealogy - subjects of current relevance. I usually find something that intrigues me and makes me want to dig deeper. Care to join me? Read on...

Friday, April 27, 2012

Almost
a half century after his death, he is still considered one of the most respected and
distinguished radio and television journalists of all time: A journalist whose listeners and
viewers trusted and believed him, A role model for future generations of
journalists, A broadcasting legend - Edward R. Murrow.

Egbert Roscoe Murrow

The Murrow Brothers - Dewey, Lacey & Egbert

On
April 25, 1908 at Polecat Creek, near Greensboro, North Carolina, Egbert Roscoe
Murrow was born to Roscoe C. Murrow and Ethyl Lamb Murrow. Egbert was the youngest of three sons
and raised a Quaker. In 1914, the
family moved to Blanchard, Washington striving for a better life near the
lumber industry.

Edward R. Murrow

It was during college at Washington State when
Murrow changed his first name to Edward.
He graduated in 1930, majoring in Speech. After graduation, he moved to New York and worked as the
assistant secretary for the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign
Scholars.

Janet Murrow

Murrow with son, Casey

During that time he met and fell in love with Janet
Huntington Brewster. On March 12,
1935, they were married. They had
one son, Charles Casey Murrow, in 1945.

Director of Talks & Education

CBS Publicity shot

In 1935 he was hired by CBS as their first Director
of Talks and Education. Two years
later, in 1937, CBS sent Murrow to Europe to set up cultural programs. Realizing that a world-wide storm was brewing, Murrow created a network of radio correspondents that
could report on the upcoming rapid changes occurring.

Murrow's Boys During the War

With a keen

Murrow's Boys After the Wat

understanding of what would
be needed, Murrow gathered some of the best writers from the wire services and
newspapers stationed around the world to work for him. These included William
Shirer, Howard K. Smith, Eric Sevareid, Cecil Brown, Mary Marvin Breckinridge,
Richard C. Hottelet, Bill Downs, Winston Burdett, Tom Grandin, Larry LeSueur
and Charles Collingwood. These men
(and Mary) became the eyes and ears of World War II, sending reports and
broadcasting back home to the U.S., reporting about what was happening on the
front lines of the war and its effects around the world. This small group would later become
known as “Murrow’s Boys,” friends and associates of Murrow, who also believed
in and set the highest standards for reporting.

Covering London

Battle of Britain

Murrow made a name for himself by his coverage
leading up to and during the war.
In 1938, he reported the German occupation of Austria from Vienna as it
happened. In 1939, he made the
German Blitzkrieg come alive for listeners in America. In 1940, it was during the
10-month-long Battle of Britain that Murrow developed his calm, yet poignant
style of reporting – explaining what was happening in descriptive words and
phrases, while all the time immersing the audience even deeper with the actual
background sounds.

"This is London..."

"Good night and good luck."

During World War II, Murrow delivered over
5,000 radio broadcasts. It was
during this time that he developed his signature ominous open to each newscast
– “This is London.” And each radio
show would close with his trademark wish, “Good night and good luck.”

B-17 Flying Fortress

Writing a Story

During the war Murrow flew 25 bombing missions over
Germany, recording what he saw and heard after he returned. Americans had never been this absorbed
in a war before Murrow started taking them with him every night – on to rooftops,
down in bunkers, flying missions.

See It Now Title Graphic

Vice President of News Programs

After the war, Murrow returned to the New York and CBS,
where he was promoted to Vice President of News Programs and offered the chance
to create a radio program, Hear It Now.
In 1951, he made the move to television with See It Now. This was television’s first news
program delivered in a documentary-style format. Murrow presented it in a narrative format while taking the
viewer out in the field, where the news was happening. Most of the stories dealt with social
or political issues of the time. See
It Now was the forerunner of later
news programs such as 60 Minutes,
20/20 and 48 Hours.

A McCarthy Hearing

McCarthy on See It Now

In 1954, Murrow and See It Now took on Senator Joseph McCarthy and his communist
red scare tactics. By using video clips of McCarthy speaking and appearing
across the country, Murrow let McCarthy damn himself with his own words and
gestures. This program broke the spell Senator McCarthy had seemingly cast over
the nation concerning Communism. The Senate voted 67 to 22 to censure him eight
months after the show aired.

Peabody Award

William S. Paley

Murrow won a Peabody award for See It Now, and public sentiment
ran 15 to 1 in favor of the McCarthy broadcast.
However, William S. Paley, head of CBS took exception to the
hard-hitting program, fearing a loss of revenue. Payle cancelled See It Now soon after, although special
segments of the program were broadcast until 1958.

Television in the 1950's

Murrow in the CBS Control Room

Murrow continued to believe that radio and television could be
used, not just to entertain, but also to educate and inform. The media of the late 1950’s, as he saw
it, was allowing Americans to become insulated “from the realities of the
world in which we live.”

Murrow in Chicago

On October 15, 1958, Murrow addressed the attendees
of the Radio and Television News Directors Association about his concerns,
saying:

“This instrument can teach, it can illuminate;
yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans
are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights
in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against
ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be
useful.”

Murrow and Harvest of Shame

Migrant Workers in 1960

Murrow’s last program at CBS was broadcast the day
after Thanksgiving, 1960. It dealt
with the plight of the migrant farm workers in the U.S. and was entitled
“Harvest of Shame.” In 1961, after several run-ins with CBS Chief
Executive, Bill Paley, Murrow resigned from the network where he had spent 26
years.

Director of the U.S. Information Agency

President Kennedy and Murrow

Murrow accepted a position with the Kennedy
Administration soon after as the director of the U.S. Information Agency – the
forerunner of Voice of America. He held this job for three years, until he was
diagnosed with lung cancer. He
underwent surgery and had his left lung removed. But the cancer continued to spread.

Pawling, New York

Murrow with his trademark cigarette

Murrow died at his farm in Pawling, New York on
April 27, 1965 of lung cancer. It was reported that he smoked up to 70 cigarettes
a day, about three packs. He was 57 years old. More than 1,300 people attended his funeral. His body was cremated and his ashes
were scattered on his farm, Glen Arden, near Pawling, New York.

Medal of Freedom

Murrow received numerous awards and accolades as a broadcaster. He was awarded 9 Emmys and two special
George F. Polk Awards for Journalism. He was presented with the Presidential
Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor a President can bestow on an
American citizen, by President Johnson in 1964. Murrow was indicted into the
Radio Hall of Fame in 1988, and his picture appeared on a 29¢ U.S.
commemorative postage stamp in January 1994.

Glen Arden Farm

As his college, friend, and a member of the elite
group known as Murrow’s Boys, Eric Sevareid said,

"He was a shooting star; and we will live
in his afterglow a very long time."

Friday, April 20, 2012

Earth
Day is Sunday April 22nd, so this seems the perfect time to take a
look at ‘going’ green with funerals and burials.

We
live ‘green.’ Why not die
green? The term “green” refers to
a practice that is not harmful to the environment – something that is natural.
For many, a green funeral and/or burial are ethical choices, a simple decision
to go back to nature.

Embalming during the Civil War

1940's Funeral Home Post Card

Natural
burials date back thousands of years.
This is how we’ve buried our dead for centuries. But natural burial fell
out of favor during the Civil War. That’s when embalming was utilized in order
to transport bodies back home to be buried. By the end of the nineteenth century natural burial had
dropped off, and by the mid twentieth century funeral homes were playing a
major part in the private ritual of death and burial.

Technician ready to embalm a body

Contrary
to popular thought, you do not have to have the deceased embalmed. Embalming is never required for the
first 24 after death. Also, you have a set amount of time to bury a body before
embalming may be required
according to your state law. According to Funeral Consumers Alliance, http://www.funerals.org/ “There is no public health purpose
served by embalming.” However, the Federal Trade Commission does allow funeral
homes to require embalming for public viewing.

Caskets

Viewing Room

A
traditional funeral and burial includes several elements. Among them,
transportation of the deceased, embalming, a viewing, a religious or memorial
service, possibly a few words at the grave side, a plot, casket, opening and
closing of the grave, a vault and liner, and a grave marker. When added up, a traditional funeral and burial will cost
around $10,000!

Hand dug grave

Natural Burial Area

A green funeral can be held outside in a natural
setting, at a loved one’s home, or at a special place of remembrance. A funeral
home is not required. With a green
or natural funeral, the body is not embalmed and no toxins are used to preserve it.

Each year, 22,500 cemeteries across the United
States bury approximately:

30 million board feet of hardwood (caskets)

90,272 tons of steel(caskets)

14,000 tons of steel (vaults)

2,700 tons of copperand bronze(caskets)

1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete (vaults)

827,060 US gallons of embalming fluid, which includes formaldehyde.

(Wikipedia)

Wicker Casket

Cardboard Coffin

A
green burial is one that is done with a biodegradable container, which is
nontoxic to the environment such as a cardboard or wicker coffin. Wicker coffins may be woven from
willow, seagrass or bamboo and pine.

Shroud

Shrouds
are also an option and are still used in many cultures and religions including
Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Christianity. A shroud is a long piece of cloth, usually made of cotton or
linen in which the body is wrapped. The shroud is then placed directly into the
grave without a casket.

Red Bud as Grave Marker

Rock Grave Stone

Green
cemeteries are just that – natural and green. Pesticides, herbicides and some fertilizers are not allowed. They do not allow metal coffins,
concrete vaults or headstones.
Instead the body is put in a degradable coffin or shroud and placed in
the grave with a flat rock, plant or tree serving as the grave marker. Some
green cemeteries are using GPS coordinates to locate graves.

Evergreen Grave Marker

Natural Grave

Natural
cemeteries also dig the graves by hand, and the body is laid to rest without
equipment. Landscaping is made up
of plants and trees native to the area, with the cemetery resembling a
woodland. England has over 200
green cemeteries while in the U.S., a the idea is just catching on. But the trend is growing. Many
traditional cemeteries are opening sections that are only for green burials. The
Green Burial Council http://www.greenburialcouncil.org
has established the United State’s first certifiable standards for funeral
providers, cremation facilities and cemeteries regarding green burial. To locate a natural burial site, visit http://naturalburial.coop/USA/

Natural Cemetery

Stone Marker

Green
funerals and burials are much less expensive than traditional ones. Burial in a green cemetery can run from
$1,000 to $5,000, including the plot, opening and closing of the grave, and a
one-time charge for perpetual care. The majority of the cost for
green burial goes for maintenance, landscaping and conservation of the
property.

Rock Salt Urns

Raku Urns

There
are other ways to go green in death.
Cremation is another option.
Remains may be placed in a biodegradable urn and buried, dropped over water, or
scattered. If you decide to urn the remains, you can still go green with an urn
crafted from handmade paper, rock salt or bamboo.

Scattering Cremains

Biodegradable Urn

Cremation
can run $1,000 to 2,000 before burial, if desired. Most green cemeteries have a donation charge for scattering
remains of $200 to $300. Burying
cremated remains can run from $200 to $1,000.

Eternal Reef Underwater

Water Urn

Water
burial is another option for a green burial. This can entail a full body sea burial where the unembalmed
body is wrapped in a shroud before being lowered into the water. Or you could choose cremation and have
the ashes scattered over a body of water, or put in a water urn and dropped
into it. You might rather choose
to have your cremains become part of a man-made (literally) reef. http://www.EternalReefs.com
offers several options including having the manmade reef added to a living
coral reef.

Mountain Home

Family Farm

You
can consider being buried on your own plot of land. Home burial is an option and is allowed in most parts of the
United States. Check your state’s
laws on acreage requirements. Home funerals are also allowed but may require
the assistance of a home funeral practitioner or a licensed funeral home
director. Again, review the laws
for your state.

According
to AARP – 21% of people over the age of 50 would prefer an eco –friendly,
‘green’ end of life ritual as opposed to a traditional funeral. Maybe its time we ‘got back to nature’
and started respecting not only the planet, but ourselves as well. Green burials follow the natural cycle
of life, returning the body back to the earth in the least obtrusive
manner.

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